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Single‐cell transcriptomic analyses reveal distinct dorsal/ventral pancreatic programs
Author(s) -
Li LinChen,
Qiu WeiLin,
Zhang YuWei,
Xu ZiRan,
Xiao YiNi,
Hou Caiying,
Yu Peng,
Cheng Xin,
Xu ChengRan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
embo reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.584
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1469-3178
pISSN - 1469-221X
DOI - 10.15252/embr.201846148
Subject(s) - beijing , china , christian ministry , chinese academy of sciences , library science , political science , computer science , law
Abstract The pancreas of vertebrates is separately derived from both the dorsal and ventral endodermal domains. However, the difference between these two programs has been unclear. Here, using a pancreatic determination gene, Pdx1 , driven GFP transgenic mouse strain, we identified Pdx1‐GFP highly expressing cells (Pdx1 high ) and Pdx1‐GFP lowly expressing cells (Pdx1 low ) in both embryonic dorsal Pdx1‐expressing region (DPR) and ventral Pdx1‐expressing region (VPR). We analyzed the transcriptomes of single Pdx1 low and Pdx1 high cells from the DPR and VPR. In the VPR, Pdx1 low cells have an intermediate progenitor identity and can generate hepatoblasts, extrahepatobiliary cells, and Pdx1 high pancreatic progenitor cells. In the DPR, Pdx1 high cells are directly specified as pancreatic progenitors, whereas Pdx1 low cells are precocious endocrine cells. Therefore, our study defines distinct road maps for dorsal and ventral pancreatic progenitor specification. The findings provide guidance for optimization of current β‐cell induction protocols by following the in vivo dorsal pancreatic specification program.